Recap: Spurs 102, Cavs 97 (Or, Remember the Varejao)

Overview: The San Antonio Spurs were able to snap the Cavaliers’ 8-game winning streak, beating the Cavs 102-97 behind Manu Ginobili’s 30-point effort. LeBron James had 27 points to lead the Cavaliers, who played without Anderson Varejao in the second half.

Cavs-Related Bullets:

-The Cavs are generally ludicrously good in games like this. The game was up in the air with about seven minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Generally, that’s the part of the program where the defense locks down and LeBron takes over.

-In what 82games.com define as “clutch” situations (less than five minutes to play, neither team leading by five points or more), the Cavs have been a crushing machine. In those situations, the Cavaliers have an offensive efficiency of 119.4 and a defensive efficiency of 81.3. That’s 38 net points per 48 minutes of crunch time.

-Against the Spurs, the Cavs didn’t gain a single point in the final five minutes, and were outscored by six points after LeBron entered the game in the fourth quarter. Most of the fingers will be pointed at the offense, but the fact is the Spurs were unstoppable down the stretch. With Manu Ginobili slicing through the lane and raining threes, the Spurs managed to score 15 point in just over five minutes during the time spanning from when LeBron entered to when Tim Duncan hit a five-footer to make it 92-86 with 1:43 to play.

-The big issue here was Anderson Varejao missing the second half with a tight hamstring. The Cavs normally give up 23 points per game in the fourth quarter; on Friday, the Spurs scored 33. Not having Varejao to show out on Ginobili and defend the paint was huge.

-The Spurs also had some success trapping LeBron in the third. Normally, the Cavs counter on-ball doubles of LeBron by having Andy find room on the weak side or Mo hit an outside shot. With Andy in the locker room and Mo ice-cold, the Spurs were able to frustrate LeBron.

-LeBron’s line looks nice, and he was scoring from everywhere on the floor. However, the Spurs were able to take away some of his greatest strengths. LeBron missed five shots at the rim by my count, and only three of his 10 assists led to shots at the basket. Mike Brown’s a great defensive coach, but remember who taught him what he knows.

-In a five-point loss, Antawn and LeBron missing seven of 14 free throws is VERY frustrating to see. It might be time to get ‘Tawn to a hypnotist.

-Jamison is what he is — he rebounds, gets shots up, and makes about as many as he misses. 24 points on 20 shots for AJ, who also missed four shots in the paint. Tim Duncan is still a really good defender. Don’t forget this.

-Good game for JJ, who got a few dunks off of cuts and did a great job on the offensive boards, snagging five and putting them right back up for a few second-chance points.

-The Cavs did have a lot of success on the break, scoring 32 points in transition. Unfortunately, they found themselves living off those baskets, and that didn’t cut it in crunch-time.

-Powe probably would’ve helped more than Z out there, but let’s give Z a week to get his timing back before we make any snap judgements.

-Man, the rotation is a logjam right now, and Shaq isn’t even back yet. Good problem to have, I suppose.

-Alright, that’s all for tonight. Nine games left. The Cavs need six of them to guarantee home-court throughout. Six are at home, but two of those six are against Atlanta and Orlando. Z returns to the Q on Sunday. Get excited. Until later, campers.

I don’t really feel that bad about this loss. We couldn’t help Andy’s injury, and hopefully Mo’s going to not have nights like these when it matters. The one preventable problem I noticed was JJ’s offensive fouls. For a guy with such athleticism he needs to learn to control himself a little bit more and avoid running over everybody and their brother.

I really liked how we kept fighting at the end and we took advantage of a few breaks to keep our hopes alive. It’s good to see them fight hard for a win, even if it didn’t go our way.

JJ took another jumper. It has to stop. Second, like other jason said, he has to get some sort of control. He catches off the screen and just flies at the rim no matter what the situation. He doesn’t survey the court and take notice of wtf is going on..just jumps really high, and hopes for the best. Needs to have some sort of awareness when he recieves the ball.

Said it before, say it here too, didn’t like the way Z was playing before he was traded, and don’t like it now. If he isn’t hitting that jumper, he isn’t helping this team on the court one bit. Like him for the morale support and team unity, but give powe those minutes and we get something productive.

Delonte continuin to force Ginobli left left me more than puzzled. Anthony Parker continuing to miss open clutch 3s is leaving me sad. Mo’s up and down nature is leaving me worried. And Daniel gibson never seeing the light of day is leaving me angry.

The other reason we lost the game: TERRIBLE defense on Manu in the 4th. Actually, that was probably a bigger reason than Andy being gone. The scouting report on him, is what AC screamed the whole game last time they played: make him go right. No one did that, and Delonte and Parker got abused. What happened to LeBron guarding the other team’s best guy on key possessions? This does not bode will for playing teams like Orlando Milwaukee, and Atlanta: teams that can throw multiple scoring swingmen at us.

As for Z, just like before he got hurt his contributions don’t always show up in the box score: box outs, tip rebounds, defense around the basket. He’ll be fine doing that 15 minutes a night. MB is going to have to hurt some feelings with his rotation.

It’s so sad that we now measure Z’s contributions in such small areas. Think if we only measured what LeBron did in those areas, or even a bench player like Delonte, we would scream bloody murder. If the best thing we think about Z is his ability to tip the ball in off of a rebound, then he isn’t and hasn’t been producing enough.

Also, no1 is thinking of it like this but think if that foul on Ginobli had been called at the end when he tripped up LeBron. If LeBron makes those two FTs its a 4 point game and Hill proceeded to miss his FTs on the other end. Game COULD have been different if the refs didn’t miss that obvious call.

@Rich – refs tend to swallow their whistles in late game situations. It was probably a reach in at any other point in the game, but there wasn’t a lot of contact so LeBron didn’t get the whistle there.

I’m worried about the stuff that Windhorst talked about: “But Brown had odd mixes for the entire second half. Bending on the fly is not his strongsuit. if the team looked scattered there when they lost the lead it was because they were.”

In the playoffs, you don’t want to lose a game like this because someone had to leave with a tight hamstring or whatever. As far as Hollinger and “depth” being detrimental, he’s basically saying that teams that gain an advantage because their 2nd units outplay other teams’ second units no longer have that advantage because in the playoffs, starters play big minutes. As far as the Cavs are concerned, most of their depth is in the frontcourt which is never a bad thing because they have so many fouls to give on bigs. LeBron is going to play 44-46 minutes a night in close games in the playoffs. As for the rest of the minutes? Who knows….

Like tom said, depth won’t be ‘detrimental,’ its just that it becomes less of an advantage. I think it must have been a bit of a throwaway comment from hollinger anyway, because it doesnt always follow. First off, again like tom said, if a teams depth is in the front court, its a much bigger advantage given how much a few early fouls can take out a team like orlando which relies so much on Dwight. Second, take a team like Boston. Surely a great deal of depth could only be an enormous advantage in the playoffs, given that I just cant see ray allen, Pierce and KG all putting in 40+ minutes a game this year. Rays averaging 35, but Pierce is down at 33.5, and KG 29.8. How could having a good bench be a ‘detriment’ to them? As for the Cavs, considering how epic the starters have been this season, I dont think their success has been more attributable to their depth than anyone else. Huge leads built in the first quarter are their trademark, and more recently an enormous 4th quarter lockdown. The starters are the backbone: awesome role players like delonte can only help.

You guys are too hard on Z. 4 rebounds isnt bad for how little time he played, and 2-5 from the field isnt bad either. Hell, if he had made one more shot to go 3-5 everyone would be calling it a solid game.

The Lineup: (Click for Author’s Archive)

Nate Smith is an Associate Editor. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to NE Ohio in 2000. He adopted the Cavs in 2003 and graduated from Kent State in 2009 with a BA in English. He can be contacted at oldseaminer@gmail.com or @oldseaminer on Twitter.

Tom Pestak is an Associate Editor. He's from the west side of Cleveland and lives and (mostly) dies by the success and (mostly) failures of his beloved teams. You can watch his fanaticism during Cavs games @tompestak.

Robert Attenweiler is a Staff Writer. Originally from OH, he's long made his home in NYC where he writes plays and screenplays (www.disgracedproductions.com) some of which end up being about Ohio, basketball or both. He has also written for The Classical and the blog Raising the Cadavalier. You can contact him at rattenweiler@gmail.com or @cadavalier.

Benjamin Werth is a Staff Writer. He was born in Cleveland and raised in Mentor, OH. He now lives in Germany where he is an opera singer and actor. He can be reached at blfwerth@gmail.com.

Cory Hughey is a Staff Writer. He grew up in Youngstown, the Gary, Indiana of Ohio. He graduated from Youngstown State in 2008 with a worthless telecommunications degree. He can be contacted at theleperfromwatts@yahoo.com or @coryhughey on Twitter.

David Wood is our Links Editor. He is a 2012 Graduate of Syracuse University with an English degree who loves bikes, beer, basketball, writing, and Rimbaud. He can be reached on Twitter: @nothingwood.

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John Krolik is the Editor Emeritus of Cavs: The Blog. At present, he is pursuing a law degree at Tulane University. You can contact him at johnkrolik@gmail.com or @johnkrolik.

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